Cybercrime Week in Review 22 August 2015

Financially-Motivated Advanced Targeting (Phishlabs)
Cybercriminals have recently spent more time zeroing in on a specific target and deploying spear phishing attacks which have resulted in a surge of high-profile security breaches and/or major fraud schemes leaving organizations with millions in financial losses.

Smarten Your Data Security or Risk Corporate Loss (Info Security)
Since the advent of the internet, the law has struggled to keep pace with subsequent advances. Technology has progressed rapidly, with increasing numbers of everyday objects now connected in the internet of things (IoT), and threats have grown exponentially in tandem. Regulators and lawmakers, however, have been slow to recognize the data protection implications.

At what point do white hat hackers cross the ethical line? (CSO)
In recent months the news of Chris Roberts alleged hacking of an inflight entertainment system and possibly other parts of the Boeing 737 have sparked a wave of controversy. Public opinion was originally on Roberts’ side, but the recent publication of the FBI affidavit changed that drastically. According to the affidavit, Roberts admitted to doing a live “pen-test” of a plane network in mid-air.

IRS: Hack Much Wider Than First Thought (Bank Info Security)
The Internal Revenue Service says cyber thieves may have accessed as many as 334,000 taxpayer accounts in a breach of its Get Transcript system, far more than the 114,000 accounts it originally estimated in May.

Cyberattack campaign targets India, SEA nations (ZDNet)
A hacker group that appears to be residing in China has been targeting India and Southeast Asian nations in a bid to extract information about ongoing border disputes and other diplomatic issues.